The Technology Of Simplicity Burch Analysis

Topic: Discuss the element of contrast.

In the last century, technology has revolutionized societies, promoting the culture of instant materialistic entertainment. These advancements impact everyone, especially the younger generations since the technological products influence and shape their life attitudes. In “The Technology of Simplicity” by Mark A. Burch, the author discusses the impact of these social advancements by contrasting the behaviours of people in the past and the present. First, the attitude of the speaker’s father creates a contrast with other hunter’s behaviours during hunting. When the speaker goes hunting with his father, his father often adopts the technique of “[sitting] silently, motionless and endlessly patient, waiting for deer to come down the paths” (2). They sit this way for hours and are usually rewarded because “there was always an abundance of less patient hunters … noisily crashing about, keeping the deer more or less constantly on the move” (2). The sound of

As the speaker hunts with his father, he has learned to meditate. When the speaker grows older, he can “spend whole mornings in the bush, … [his] senses riveted on the changing patterns of light, colour, form, and sound in the forest” (4). Meditation strengthens his connection with the nature and merely sitting in the bush satisfies him. Meanwhile, his children follow the culture of instant pleasure. On Christmas morning, the children at first “thoroughly [explore] the possibilities of [the] new [toys]” (7), but their level of satisfaction drops rapidly and by lunch time, “[they] were off playing with the empty boxes” (7). Their behaviour suggests that the culture of consumption heavily influences them and the many material goods can only entertain them for half a day. This creates a contrast with the speaker’s meditation and implies that people nowadays only focuses on